Judge: Carroll, potentially, may be called as witness in illegal taping case

A Leon County
judge ruled Thursday that attorneys for a former aide of Lt. Gov. Jennifer
Carroll could probe the governor's office if they can prove the information they
seek is relevant to a case that has spiraled into allegations of illegal taping,
a sex scandal and an arson attack at the state Capitol.

The defense team for Carletha Cole,
a criminally-charged one-time aide to Carroll, has been trying to question Carroll
and members of her staff after claiming that the governor’s office was plagued
by sexual improprieties, illegal audio recording and bribery.

Lawyers for Gov. Rick Scott's office
got involved in Cole’s illegal taping case, asking a judge to enter an
order barring Cole’s defense team from “harassing” Carroll in an attempt to
smear her in the media.

Circuit court Judge Frank Sheffield
reached for a compromise Thursday, saying he would allow the probe, but only if
Cole’s defense team convinced him that it was relevant and not a “fishing
expedition.”

“If he can give me a reason to
depose the lieutenant governor, I’m going to let him depose her,” Sheffield said of Cole’s defense attorney, Stephen
Webster. “I’m not going to let people hide behind their office if they’re
involved in a case. On the other hand, just because she’s the lieutenant
governor, I’m not going to allow him to depose her if it’s just a fishing
expedition.”

Lawyers from the Leon County
state attorney’s office and Scott’s office say Cole’s probe—which
includes subpoenas for surveillance videos, hotel records and text messages—is
an attempt to slander Carroll.

Cole, 49, is fighting a
third-degree felony charge that she distributed an illegally taped recording to
a Florida Times-Union reporter. She was fired last year from her role as
Carroll’s aide, and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Cole’s lawyers have fought back
against the criminal charges by saying that Carroll’s office had a culture of covert
audio taping, and the lieutenant governor has been gunning for Cole ever since
Cole walked in on her in a sexually “compromising position” with a travel aide. Carroll has denied the allegations.

Cole’s attorneys also allege that the travel aide, Beatriz Ramos, set a trash
can ablaze near Cole’s desk in the state Capitol, and Carroll used her position
to smother an investigation into the fire.

In August, Cole’s defense team
demanded that the governor’s office turn over loads of information—hotel records,
surveillance tapes from Carroll’s office, a “smart pen” allegedly used by
Carroll’s chief of staff to secretly record conversations and audio tapes. It
also called Carroll, her chief of staff John Konkus, Ramos and other staff
members in for depositions.

The state attorney and the
governor’s office, in court filings, each objected to the probes, painting Cole
as a disgruntled employee using salacious allegations to carry out a bitter
grudge.

“Litigation of a criminal case is
not license to wage a personal vendetta, as appears to be the case here,” Leon County
state attorney Willie Meggs wrote in a motion to quash Cole’s inquiries.